British citizens

You are eligible for council housing if you are a British citizen living in the UK permanently and you have not lived abroad recently.

British citizens who have been living abroad

Councils can only provide housing for people who are habitually resident in the UK.

You may be affected by the habitual residence test if you are a British citizen who has been living outside the UK, Eire (Republic of Ireland), the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man for a lengthy period.

To assess whether you're habitually resident in the UK, the council considers:

where you live and work

where your family or friends are

the reasons why you have come to live in the area

where you intend to live in future

if you have been habitually resident in the UK in the past

If you are not eligible to apply for council housing immediately, you may qualify after you've been back in the UK for a few months.

Get help if you're homeless now

You can make a homeless application if you have nowhere to stay now. The council may help you with emergency accommodation. You can also apply to go on the council housing waiting list if you are eligible.

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Our housing crisis is affecting millions of people across the country. The most effective way for Shelter to show just how bad things have got and how much needs to be done is by highlighting the real-life experiences of people around the country.